Has your neighborhood been boxed?

Neighborhood Gallery

100+ boxes turned in!

This map indicates how many "boxes" were requested throughout neighborhoods in Austin and how many were completed and returned.

Interactive Map

Use this interactive map to find out if a Community Character in a Box kit has been requested in your neighborhood. Areas with no shading have not been captured. Or if you prefer, open the map in a new browser.

Community Character in a Box

“Community Character in a Box” was a hands-on way for Austinites to get with their neighbors and get involved with CodeNEXT, shaping the Austin we imagine. We sought your insight, and who knows your neighborhood better than you?

Community Character in a Box was a do-it-yourself kit to capture the assets, constraints, and opportunities for improvement in your neighborhood — documented both with photos and on maps.

Community Character Analysis

An important part of CodeNEXT is a “Community Character Analysis." We must understand how our current Land Development Code and the character of different parts of our City may be supporting the physical characteristics and uniqueness of Austin’s neighborhoods or getting in the way of creating places the community values.

During this process, we took a careful look at the character of neighborhoods and the larger community. We needed your help to make sure we understood Austin’s “DNA” — those qualities, experiences, and places that people love. This new code must reflect the unique character of neighborhoods throughout Austin. Thank you for your input, Austin!

Community Character Workshops

We hosted three Community Character Workshops in January 2014 asking, “What defines the character of your neighborhood”? Attendees learned about the Community Charter approach, saw 12 photo-documented neighborhoods, and began the process of identifying what’s unique about your neighborhood.

Why bother?

CodeNEXT is more than rewriting land use rules and regulations; it’s an opportunity to create a better city that meets the needs of our current residents and future generations. Don’t miss this opportunity to have fun, learn and help contribute to Austin’s future.